Siempre Mío

t w e n t y e i g h t

The mask on my face only hid my eyes and the left side of my face, like most masks did.

An announcement went out for the dance, where everyone was invited to the floor with their plus one, but would end up switching partners regardless.

I stepped to the floor with the plus one that the Don encouraged me to bring along, and I imitated the rest of the men who were kissing their partner's hand and setting themselves up for the dance.

The music began and we began dancing, the dresses filling the room with colour as we spun and swayed.

Partner after partner, I danced and spun around with every woman on the floor, until I reached the last woman.

When she spun towards me, I had to stop her from falling by grabbing her waist as gently as I could.

The way she held my hand and the way my hands placed themselves perfectly on her waist felt all too familiar.

"Scusa," she whispered in my ear as I pulled her close as we swayed, "l'altro tizio ha provato a parlare con me e mi annoiavo. È come se volesse che me ne andassi. "
[translation: sorry, the other guy tried to small talk with me and i was getting bored. It's like he wanted me to leave. ]

Her voice was sweet despite her sarcasm.

I laughed at her lightly, continuing to dance with her.

"Almeno parli. Tutte le altre donne tacevano."
[translation: At least you talk. All the other women were silent.]

She let out a chuckle, and that's when I realised.

No, it can't be.

The song ended and the hall filled with the sound of applause as some men bowed and the women curtseyed as they returned to their partners.

Without thinking, I grabbed the woman's hand and I pulled her away from the floor; I had to know the truth.

The hall had a room next to the stage, so so took her there. I locked the door behind us and turned to the woman who was looking at me confused.

I grabbed my gun from my holster and pointed it at her.

"Take your mask off." I said calmly.

"What the hell?! This is a masquerade ball; I'm not sure if you know this, but the whole point of a masquerade is the masks." She answered sarcastically.

After hearing her voice again, I knew for sure.  I had never been so certain of something until now.

"Don't-"

Before I could finish, she grabbed the gun by the barrel, twisted her body and pulled me forward before turning back to me with the gun facing me in her hands.

She cocked the gun and tilted her head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," My jaw clenched, "do you know who I am?"

"I do, actually. But you don't know who I am. Well, not yet." She smirked.

"I intend on finding out."

She hadn't realised that I had backed her up to the wall and I used this opportunity to pull the ribbon that had the mask tied to her face.

The mask fell to the floor and I kicked it away before she had the chance to pick it up.

She looked up at me and I realised who it was.

"Aurora? What are you doing here?"

"Lorenzo, come in. Where are you?" Said a voice through the ear piece I had in.

"Actually... It's not Aurora. It's-"

Two gunshots rang out and multiple screams as well as gun cocking noises sounded from the main hall.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room, hiding behind a decorative pillar stand that held a flower vase on top of it.

I had my gun in my hand and noticed that Aurora also had a gun out.

"Where the hell did you get that?!" I whisper-yelled at her.

"Had it on me." She replied, her eyes evaluating the situation.

A familiar blue dress was visible from the stage and I realised that it was...

Anastasia.

Oh fuck.

"Why'd you say 'oh fuck'?"

"Because that's my best friends girlfriend."

"Oh fuck."
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"Everybody shut up!!" She shouted, firing her gun twice more into the air.

"What the hell are you doing Ana?" Javier shouted, pleading silently for her to get off the stage.

"I'm here for one person and one person only. Lorenzo Martinez."

I stepped out from behind the pillar, my gun in my hand as I faced her.

"What do you want Anastasia?" I asked her.

"You. Dead. It would've been you and your girlfriend but unfortunately, she's not with us today. Now get on your fucking knees before I save myself some time and shoot you now."

"I'm not doing that," I said, stepping closer to the stage as I navigated my way through the crowds that were crouching on the floor in fear, "so get off the stage and let's talk about this, one on one."

"Do you know why I'm here to kill you Lorenzo?"

I shook my head.

"It happened three years ago, when your girlfriend killed Damien Mozorov. I was shocked. Enraged, even. I watched as my mother broke down, my family getting torn apart. At that moment in time, nothing was more important to me than getting revenge."

"Why would you want revenge because of him?"

Anastasia raised her gun, pointing it at me.

"Because he was my fucking father."

She pulled the trigger on her gun and I ducked down; the gunshot rang out but I wasn't hit.

I looked up to see Anastasia clutching her arm in pain, with blood. The gun she was holding had the safety on and I looked in the direction that the gunshot had come from and saw Aurora standing there, her arms outstretched with the gun in her hands.

"Сука!!" Ana shouted before she ran off the stage to find an exit.
[translation: bitch]

Several guards went after her, with Antonio, Javier and I included.

"There's nowhere to go Anastasia!"

"Unfortunately for us, there is." Javier shouted back.

We went to where he was and saw two guards dead on the floor, as well as the exit which had been kicked open.

"Fuck!!" Javier said, punching the door which caused a deafening crack to sound from the door.

The wood was splintering now and Javier had stormed off. Antonio and I followed him, calling his name as we chased after him.

When we finally caught up to him, Javier was outside, his mask on the floor as he kicked at it violently.

"Javier, man. Stop."

"I should've known," He started, shaking his head, "I should've listened to you both. Damn it!!"

"Who cares now? We gotta keep moving forward. Forget the past, we got work to do and we gotta find this girl now." I said to him.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's find her."
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